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Betty White
|birth_place = Oak Park, Illinois, United States |death_date = |origin = |instrument = |genre = |occupation = Actress, comedian |years_active = 1939–present |label = |associated_acts = |website = |current_members = |past_members = }} Betty Marion White Ludden (née White; born January 17, 1922) is an American actress and comedian, with the longest television career of any entertainer, spanning 80 years. Regarded as a pioneer of television, she was one of the first women to exert control both in front of and behind the camera and is recognized as the first woman to produce a sitcom (Life with Elizabeth), which contributed to her receiving the honorary title Mayor of Hollywood in 1955. White is known for her award-winning roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1973–77) and Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls (1985–92) – the Writers Guild of America has included both sitcoms in its list of the 101 Best-Written TV Series of All Time – and Elka Ostrovsky on Hot in Cleveland (2010–15). A staple panelist of American game shows such as Password, Match Game, Tattletales, The Hollywood Squares and The $25,000 Pyramid, White has been dubbed "the first lady of game shows," and became the first woman to receive an Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host in 1983 for the show Just Men! She is also known for her appearances on Boston Legal, The Carol Burnett Show, and Saturday Night Live. White has received eight Emmy Awards in various categories, three American Comedy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Grammy Award. She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is a 1985 Television Hall of Fame inductee, and a 2009 Disney Legend. Early life Betty Marion White was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on January 17, 1922. She has stated that Betty is her legal name and not a shortened version of Elizabeth. She is the only child of Christine Tess (née Cachikis; 1899–1985), a homemaker, and Horace Logan White (1899–1963), a lighting company executive. Her paternal grandfather was Danish and her maternal grandfather was Greek, with her other roots being English and Welsh (both of her grandmothers were Canadian). White's family moved to Alhambra, California in 1923 when she was a little over a year old, and later to Los Angeles during The Great Depression. To make extra money, her father would build radios (crystal sets) and sell them wherever he could. Since it was the height of the Depression, and hardly anyone had a sizable income, he would trade the radios in exchange for other goods, including dogs on some occasions. She attended Horace Mann School in Beverly Hills, and Beverly Hills High School, graduating in 1939. Her interest in wildlife was sparked by family vacations to the High Sierras. She initially aspired to a career as a forest ranger, but was unable to accomplish this because women were not allowed to serve as rangers at that time. Instead, White pursued an interest in writing. She wrote and played the lead in a graduation play at Horace Mann School, and discovered her interest in performing. Inspired by her idols Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, she decided to pursue a career as an actress. Category:Artists Category:NVSC 5 artists